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The NHL surely didn’t plan it this way, but the league’s image might actually get a “thumbs up” boost from the 3-on-3 All-Star Game.

It won’t remove the series of embarrassments tied to John Scott’s participation, the absence of Sidney Crosby, or the Alex Ovechkin and Jonathan Toews withdrawals and suspensions, to say nothing of the Dennis Wideman affair, but the game itself will offer a curiosity factor, the TV cameras will follow Scott’s every move and, really, how good does it have to be to top the low expectations?

In the aftermath, the NHL must deal with the issues of format, fan voting, no-shows and it must deal properly with Wideman.

The NHL has no choice but to suspend him for his forceful collision with linesman Don Henderson, never mind what Wideman’s condition or intent might have been. Yes, he could have been dazed, even concussed, after being checked by Nashville’s Mikka Salomaki. No, he probably didn’t mean to hit or harm Henderson. But there is no way of proving the former and the latter is immaterial.

The facts are that Wideman walloped and felled an official with a hit from behind that would have brought a penalty if it had been delivered to a Nashville player. Wideman was gliding and not skating at full speed and likely would have eased his way past a Flames’ teammate. For some reason, he treated the presence of Henderson in his path differently.

Didn’t mean to do it. Wasn’t thinking. Acted out of frustration. Nothing matters but the fact that it happened, and that can’t be ignored.

Who knows why three other officials did so at the time?
 

Scott’s Story

As for John Scott’s account of his all-star selection and subsequent ordeal, the article in The Players’ Tribune deserves an award of some kind.

The lamest question asked of an athlete is: “What was going through your mind?”

Often, the proper answer is “Nothing.” Rarely is there time for an athlete to answer it better than that, and so John Scott would never have been able to tell his story in such understandable detail another way. “Thumbs up” to The Players’ Tribune, which just got its best reason to exist and grow.

Scott deserved none of this. He didn’t deserve to be a way to make fun of the NHL. He didn’t deserve to be an all-star. He didn’t deserve to be pressured to bow out of the game, or to be traded from Arizona to Montreal to St. John’s. He didn’t deserve to wonder if he should go to Nashville, or to wait to be told not to go to Nashville.

In the end, it’s up to him to decide if he’d do it all again to receive such unexpected fame. He’d probably say “yes,” because it gave him a reason and the chance to express himself in a way that wouldn’t have come otherwise.

Embedded ImageThose who didn’t know John Scott, or didn’t like him or the role he plays in the NHL, have come to know him, understand him, like him and root for him.

The NHL should want this for all of its players, but the league should make sure it never happens this way, ever again.